DA Revelations Episode 18  Broken
by AngelExposed
Summary: Jessie and Rogue return to Bayville; Rogue is struggling to deal with the revelation of Jessie's true origins.  R
1. Chapter 1: Genetics Lesson

DA REVELATIONS

Episode 18 – Broken

Chapter One – Genetics Lesson

Kitty Pryde had just staggered into the Professor's office in time to catch the phone before it's final ring. "Xavier's," she yawned, glancing at her watch and noting it was nearly midnight.

"Kitty!" came a loud and almost excited tone which made her nearly drop the phone. She recognised the tone at once, sighing, she sat upon the edge of the desk.

"Hi, Hank. The Professor's not at home right now, he's gone to Maine for a conference," she stifled yet another yawn.

"I forgot..." said Hank, sighing.

"Is Jessie okay?" Kitty asked, she pinned the phone between her ear and her shoulder and picked up a rubber band from the desk tidy to pull her sleep-mussed hair back into a messy but efficient ponytail.

"She's fine," Hank advised.

"I can't_ believe_ she ran off like that...she was supposed to be in bed, and no one even thought to check on her...then you call after you get to Muir Island and it's like, suddenly we realise she's not even _here._"

"_She's a crafty little thing, isn't she_?"

"Remind you of anyone?" Kitty made a face.

Hank laughed on the other end, "_I keep saying it – she's her father's daughter...oh, I nearly forgot...Remy is fine. He's healing up amazingly._"

"I'm glad he's doing better...Rogue said he was so close to death's door that I was worried you wouldn't be _able _to pull him back..." Kitty said. She tried to feign the relief she felt in the news that Remy would be okay, while at the same time trying to sound cold and aloof. She still hadn't quite forgiven the man for bringing drugs into the mansion – especially when there were young children at home – and especially after the story he had told her about kicking a drugs habit years before.

"Kitty...Jessie saved Remy's life...quite literally."

Kitty straightened up, catching the phone in her hand and putting it back to her ear quickly "huh? What are you talking about."

"Didn't Rogue tell you when she called?"

"No...she was too busy yelling at me for _not _telling her about Jessie..." Kitty muttered. "How did Jessie save him?"  
"When we got here, Remy was in bad shape – and I mean bad shape," Hank explained from the other end. "Like you say, he was nearly at death's door. But while myself and Moira were looking over her research we made a somewhat fascinating discovery about why the process went so wrong..."

"And?" Kitty asked, she was starting to lose patience now, she was tired and hadn't slept very well for many nights thanks to her son who'd taken to crying every time any sound in the mansion occurred – which was quite often. She wished she'd stayed in bed instead of rushing to answer the Professor's phone, which she'd heard from her bedroom directly above.

"There was a third DNA type that was being used between Remy's DNA and the synthetic DNA in the clones..."

"A third DNA..." Kitty asked curiously.

"It fixed the problem..."

"I'm not with you," Kitty rubbed her head.

"Third DNA made the healing process move forward...only the third DNA hadn't been accounted for in Moira's calculations...which is why everything went wrong."

She yawned loudly, "so...taking the third DNA out is like...taking the battery out of a remote control and making it useless?"

"Imagine two sides of a city – one residential and one industrial, with a river in between and NO bridge," Hank tried to explain. "The residents can't live on the industrial side, and the industrial side can't be right next to the residential side without contaminating the power and water supplies..."

"Wait, is this a genetics lesson or a tutorial for Sim City 4?" Kitty asked confusedly.

"Just stay with me on this!" Hank instructed. "So, you have residents with no job, no income, and then a failing industry? What do you do?"

"Build a bridge," Kitty tried.

"Exactly!" said Hank, "the bridge lets the residents go through to the industrial side and prosper, while the industry doesn't contaminate or pollute the residential areas...do you follow me now?"

"Wait..." Kitty yawned again, and rubbed her eyes, "so...the third DNA is a bridge between..."

"Between the synthetic and Remy's DNA. The synthetic DNA was contaminating and polluting Remy's body with illness, and reversing the healing process...it damn near killed him..." Hank explained. "The third DNA became the bridge between the two, it prevented the pollution and let the two different DNA's work together. You see?"

"Ohhhh," Kitty said, it certainly seemed clearer now. "But...wait, how does Jessie fall into all this..."

Hank sounded even more excited now, "well that's the astounding thing, Kitty. Jessie's DNA was the bridge. And it worked perfectly...you should see the rate Remy is healing at now."

"So any DNA could be used?" asked Kitty.

"No...it had to be a certain DNA...and that's what is so amazing. After taking a careful look at all of Moira's research, I have discovered that Jessie's DNA exists in every single one of the clones..."

"Hold on a sec..." Kitty shifted uncomfortably on her desk, "are you saying...those clones had Jessie's DNA...before we even _found out_ about them? Before she even _came_ to us..."

"Yes," Hank said grimly on the other end, he gave a sound that was half sigh, half grunt.

"What does that mean, Hank?" Kitty felt a sudden fear slip deep into her stomach, it made her shiver all over, she held onto the phone tightly.

"It means...I'm not sure."

"Is Jessie some kind of clone...of Gabrielle? Did Sinister get a hold of the baby's DNA and do what he did to Remy?"

"No..." Hank replied quickly.

"Thank god, 'cause, really...that would be about the sickest and _lowest_ thing anyone could do with human remains..." Kitty felt shaken with disgust just thinking of someone doing that.

"Jessie isn't a clone...I'm certain of it."

"How?"

Hank sounded somewhat exasperated now – as if he'd spent too much time explaining this and was too tired to feel like repeating himself. "Because the clones have synthetic DNA...and Jessie does _not." _He explained. "There's nothing synthetic about Jessie's DNA. I must have looked over it a dozen times to make _sure _she was related to Remy. While I can't find a match for her mother, it's most likely her mother was human. She inherited the mutant gene from Remy, quite obviously..."

"And blue eyes and blonde hair from her mother," Kitty reasoned.

"We don't know that for sure; for all we know, if Remy hadn't been _born_ a mutant, his eyes _may _have been the same off-blue that Jessie's are. As for her blonde hair...well...Remy may have had blonder hair as a child...a recessive gene from Remy's parents? For all we know, Jessie may have the blue eyed gene from Remy's mother or father...whoever they were. Not that it's important. The real matter is her DNA being in those clones...it completely threw me off."

"It's crazy," Kitty agreed. "I mean, how is it _possible_ for her DNA to be in those clones? Do you think...that Sinister knew about Jessie before we did?"

"It would seem so," said Hank thoughtfully. "How long he's known about her though, is unclear...it can't just be a wild coincidence that he picks a random orphaned child to fill in the bridge between the synthetic DNA and Remy's. How he knew about her though is another matter – one we'll need to look into further...but how I'm not exactly sure."

Kitty shivered, the cold was creeping in through the window behind her but she wasn't sure if that was what was giving her the odd chills in her spine. Somehow, she doubted she would be sleeping easy tonight either way.


	2. Chapter 2: Things I Wasn't Supposed to S

Chapter Two – Things I Wasn't Supposed to Say

"Are you watching?" asked Jessie Crowell, she glanced to Kurt Wagner to make sure that his attention was on what she was doing and nothing else.

"Yes," said Mr. Wagner, he crossed his heart with one large finger, and then folded his arms, shivering in the cold. Jessie didn't seem to be affected at all. Her hand was in the air above her head, and a ball of light began to firm in her palm, tiny threads of electricity dancing from her fingertips as if she were touching a strobe.

"Get ready!" she said, she steadied her stance, and swung the ball of light hard as she could; it hit the snowman twenty feet away with impressive force as if someone much stronger than a seven year old girl had hit it. She felt immensely proud when the whole thing exploded, a shower of snow burst over the area, hitting them both like large hail. Jessie giggled as she covered her face with her arm.

"That...was extraordinary," said Mr. Wagner, whistling, "you blew up the snowman."

"Yep," she giggled.

"Show me," said Mr. Wagner, he came over, "show me how you made the ball of light."

Jessie grinned at him, and she put her bare hand out so he could see, curling her fingers slightly over her palm. It was a fast process – the ball of electricity seemed to form much in the way a snowball did. It rolled around in her palm, tiny, charges dangling from her fingers, until it was the size of a baseball, and almost looked solid, other than the fact there were sparks and charges dancing from it, and the hum of raw electricity in the air.

"That's amazing," said Mr. Wagner, obviously impressed. "You have a gift."  
"It's not a gift," Jessie said, with the roll of her eyes that only a seven year old could master, "just powers..." she tossed the ball of electricity into the ground a few feet away and it exploded upon impact, sending a shower of powdery snow over herself and Mr. Wagner. She laughed as she looked up, holding her bare hands out to catch the snow, and she tried to catch the flakes on her tongue.

"It's almost like Gambit," said Mr. Wagner thoughtfully, "He does something quite similar with his powers."

"I've never seen him use his powers before," Jessie admitted, she shook the snow off of the new hat Mr. Wagner had bought her yesterday in the city over the water.

"Are you guys ready?" came the voice of Rogue who was approaching from the research centre, she looked exhausted, pale, and almost deathlike. The lack of sleep had taken it's toll on her, and her appearance worried Jessie terribly.

"Do we have to go?" Jessie asked with a sigh.

"Yeah," said Rogue. "Remy's going to be healing for a little while yet...and you have school tomorrow."

"Where's Dr. McCoy?" Jessie asked, looking around.

"He's staying...for the moment," Rogue said. "I'll be piloting us home. Kurt is gonna come with us," Rogue said before wandering off towards the Blackbird.

Jessie smiled up at Mr. Wagner, she'd grown to like him very much in this past day, and she was glad he would be coming back to the mansion with them. "Are you coming back for good."

"Not really. Just to visit," said Mr. Wagner, he brushed the snow from Jessie's shoulder.

"To see Miss Pryde."

He inclined his head to look at her strangely. "What makes you say that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jessie wasn't sure _what_ had made her say it in all honesty; it had just come into her head randomly like someone else had put it in there. The thought of Miss Pryde had been there in his words, even if her name had not been. "I dunno..." she admitted.

She could tell it bothered him that she had brought it up, although she wasn't sure why at first, then as she looked in his eyes as he tried to look away and pretend to be very casual and nonchalant about the whole thing she saw emotion that she'd never seen before. It was a look she'd seen Mr. LeBeau reserve for Rogue and _only_ Rogue. Suddenly she understood.

"You like Miss Pryde," Jessie said, her mouth fell into the shape of an 'o'.

"Of course I like her, I like _everyone,_" Mr. Wagner quickly tried to cover, his face suddenly quite unreadable.

"No, but you _like_ her, like _like her like her,_" Jessie stated quite matter-of-factly. "Like Mr. LeBeau likes Rogue...or Mr. Summers likes Miss Grey..."

"It's more complicated than that, little one," said Mr. Wagner, "now come on, we are freezing to death out here, and we have a very long journey ahead of us."

"Why is it more complicated?" Jessie asked as he took her hand and began to lead her towards the blackbird.

"Because not everything is as easy as just saying you like someone, Jessie."

Jessie wasn't sure why it couldn't be simple; to her, if someone liked or indeed _loved_ someone, then surely it should have just been a case of saying so? Wasn't that the case with Mr. LeBeau and Rogue after all? Hadn't he just said he loved her and shown her he loved her and then they were together?

_No, I guess it isn't as easy as that,_ thought Jessie as they approached the Blackbird together; she climbed the steps up inside; the air felt as cold inside as it did out. Jessie had noted that even though Rogue and Mr. LeBeau had been together, there had been...awkwardness, and strain. She didn't know what those things meant in terms of their relationship or what had caused it, but she did know that she had seen it in the way they acted around each other, the way they talked to each other. Mr. LeBeau and Rogue weren't like Miss Grey and Mr. Summers, who had a very simple relationship that seemed to be as readable as a piece of paper on a table – providing you knew how to read of course.

_Miss Grey and Mr. Summers are different to Mr. LeBeau and Rogue,_ thought Jessie as she was being belted securely into a seat. She thought about the differences between the two couples. Miss Grey and Mr. Summers were comfortable around each other, they shared a bedroom and often went places together. When sitting side-by-side at the dinner table, Jessie would often notice them smile at each other and touch hands tenderly even briefly – they would share bites of their food and Mr. Summers would always pour Miss Grey's drink for her; he would even fix her coffee in the morning while she would make his toast. In the rec room in front of the television, they would hold hands, or cuddle, content with each other's company.

_Rogue and Mr. LeBeau aren't like that though,_ Jessie thought. Their relationship was different; it was hanging around on porches while he smoked those foul smelling cigarettes that it seemed he couldn't be without. It was separate bedrooms, separate bathrooms and separate lives. They didn't cuddle in front of the television. Rogue didn't make Mr. LeBeau's toast and he didn't make her coffee. To Jessie, she felt this might be the epitome of a complicated relationship – they were together...just not...together.

Was this what Mr. Wagner meant? Was that how complicated it would be? Or was it something more? Was it just the simple fact that Miss Pryde simply couldn't like Mr. Wagner back. Jessie craned her neck to see around the chair in front; Mr. Wagner was in the co-pilots seat, even though she couldn't see his face, she could feel somehow that he was bothered by something – had it been what she had said to him?

_I shouldn't have said it,_ Jessie thought dully as she played with the tassels of her new scarf with her tiny cold fingers. _Now he's sad and it's _my_ fault. Maybe that's why Mr. LeBeau is sad all the time too...maybe it's because of me...because I always say things I wasn't supposed to say..._


	3. Chapter 3: How to Deal

Chapter Three – How to Deal

Caleb Pryde was starting to change; Kitty hadn't seen the changes that had been so drastic until she took the time to look now as she was changing his diaper. Now, just a month later, his eyes were more open, two huge orbs of blue loveliness mirroring her own sapphire eyes. His nose was button like and tiny, and his lips were heartshaped, and red, but his cheeks were still chubby. His hair was thick now, and brown just like hers, although in the right light it gleamed with highlights of burnished gold.

_Thank goodness he looks like me and not his daddy,_ thought Kitty thankfully as she taped the diaper in place and picked the baby up, he looked around the room with curious eyes although he wouldn't have seen any of it as clearly as she did. She wondered what the world looked like to a baby; was it a scary or wondrous place?

She glanced towards the window, through the small space left by the curtains she could see that outside it was snowing still. It had been the coldest winter she'd known in Bayville for some time.

"We're back!" came a yell from the hall; there came the loud bounding of feet along the carpets and then Jessie darted in through the open door with a big grin on her face.

"Jessie," Kitty said brightly, she was glad to see the girl, although she had several lectures in mind for her about how she'd run off and stowed away in Rogue's back. Kitty crouched down, the baby in one arm and she hugged the girl with the other.

Jessie hugged Kitty with both arms around her neck, she grinned, "Mr. LeBeau is going to be alright," she said.

"Yes, I'm glad to hear it," said Kitty as Jessie moved back, "But you know you're in _big_ trouble for running off like that. We were all so worried about you..." Kitty reprimanded.

"I know...but if I'd asked, you'd have said _no_," Jessie frowned.

"You're right, but it doesn't excuse what you did."

"I know...I'm sorry," Jessie looked away, her huge grey-blue eyes fell to the carpet.

"The Professor will want to talk to you about what you did too," said Kitty. "He just got back this morning and he's been waiting on you coming home."

Jessie glanced up a little, "do I have to go?"

"Yes," Kitty said.

Chewing her lip, Jessie took one of Caleb's chubby hands within her own and shook it as he quietly looked at her with all the wonder and curiosity of a one-month old. "He got so big while I was away..."

"Yes, he grew fast," Kitty nodded. "Come on, I'll take you down to see the Professor..."

"Can I go for a nap first?" Jessie asked, she gave a little yawn, "I feel really sleepy."  
Kitty sighed, "okay, I suppose...go on. And no running off. Straight to your room."

Jessie darted off past Rogue who'd just entered the bedroom as she was leaving. Rogue hovered just in the doorway and no more, looking at Kitty with a strange almost aggravated glance.

"You're mad at me," Kitty said turning towards the crib and putting Caleb in there. She picked up the nearest toy and she dangled it over the baby to make the arms move.

"Damn straight," said Rogue frowning. "You all kept secrets from me...all of you."

"Not all of us. Ororo and Logan don't know. The students don't know..." Kitty pointed out.

"Okay, so the majority of you kept secrets from me," Rogue folded her arms, her eyes cold, her jaw tight.

Kitty put the toy into the crib and turned to her friend. "What did you _expect_ me to say, Rogue? 'Oh by the way, Remy has a daughter I thought you should know about' ? You honestly think me telling you six months ago would have made a huge difference – would have _changed_ anything?"

"I..."

"We knew what telling you would mean – we didn't want to jeopardise your relationship

with Remy which is what we knew the outcome would be. Besides, we kept it from _him_ too."

"I can't imagine he just took it in his stride, all 'la-de-da, I have a kid now'," Rogue put on Remy's accent horribly.

"No, he didn't take it in his stride," Kitty pulled a baby wipe out of the dispenser and cleaned off the mattress on the changing table. "He was mortified."

"When did you tell him?"

"We didn't tell him. He found out accidentally on Christmas day...Hank is so stupid that he left his files out about her lying on his desk...Remy went down there to get something and for some reason started looking through the files."

"And then?"

"He reacted how you'd expect," Kitty tossed the wipe into the trash, "he was upset...furious. He did some yelling, then...he just accepted it...now he's okay with it, he likes spending time with her...everything is as it should be."

"No...it's _not_," Rogue declared. "Nothing is as it should be. If it was he wouldn't have had to find out accidentally – and I wouldn't have had to find out while he's at death's door!"

"Okay, so it's not ideal," Kitty agreed, "but what's done is done."

"You're all so...despicable...doing this to someone. Especially someone you claimed you care about. And if it were _just me _the secret were being kept from, I could understand...but Remy...you kept him from his _daughter._"

Kitty raised an eyebrow, "oh come on, you're mad for _you, _not for him. You're mad because suddenly, everything isn't as simple as you figured it was – now there's a kid involved. And yes, it's daunting, maybe just even a little bit scary, but it's _life._"

"I'm mad about _him_ not knowing, Kitty. He's your _friend_ and you didn't tell him? You're his _best_ friend...and you kept this from him. You may as well have stuck a goddamn knife in his back."

"He's over it already, Rogue. He doesn't _care_ anymore. He just wants to be with Jessie and you, that's all he wants. He doesn't want to mull over all this stupid drama about who didn't tell him about Jessie. He just wants to get on with his life now...it's why he decided to start therapy and stop drinking."

Rogue looked away, her eyes glittering with tears she refused to let spill.

"He's happy about Jessie, Rogue."

Rogue turned her back on Kitty.

"But you aren't..." Kitty realised.

"I don't know how to deal with this," Rogue replied quietly.

"You just go on with how things were. No one is asking you to do anything," Kitty took Rogue's arm and turned her around. "_Nothing_ has really changed. The only thing that's different is that you know now."

"No, things _are_ different. There's a little girl now."

"There was always a little girl."

"Yes, but now we _know. _ And now I have to think about things."

Kitty raised an eyebrow, "think about what?"

"About everything – about me and him, if there's a future in it. We were going to get married but..."

"But what? You don't want to get married now that you know about Jessie? Now that she's this big inconvenience in your life?"

Rogue's eyes teared up, the exhaustion and stress she'd been dealing with had taken it's toll on her normally beautiful features making her look ill and drawn. "No...don't you get it? It's _me_ who's the inconvenience."


	4. Chapter 4: Not the Maternal Type

Chapter Four – Not the Maternal Type

It had been a long time since Rogue had gone to McDuggins Bar. It was still the same dive it always had been, but there was always something so inviting about that. McDuggins was a reliable dive, and she could always count on the place smelling like stale beer and bad cologne. She twirled her bottle of beer absently in her hands as she sat at the bar, glancing up at the television which was showing some tennis game on a sports channel.

"Pointless sport," muttered a voice beside her and she glanced to her side to find Logan taking a seat beside her, he called out for a beer. "Waste of time. Isn't even a sport. Like Golf."

"I forgot, you only like sport where people get hurt," Rogue smirked.

"Not always," said Logan thoughtfully. "But hitting a ball back and forth across a piece of turf ain't a sport, it's a game...and they ain't the same thing."

Rogue glanced down into the neck of the bottle, then took a sip, her mind drifted back to her conversation with Kitty earlier that day.

"You look like shit, by the way," Logan said quite matter-of-factly as the barmaid came with his beer. He thanked and paid, then turned to Rogue, "when was the last time you slept?"

"I don't know...I've been getting a few hours here and there...not slept solid for a while."

"You need to just go to bed...you shouldn't be here drowning your sorrows in beer."

She sighed, "I know...but I just...needed to get out of the mansion for a little bit – need some space, away from...away from everything."

Logan took a long swig from his beer, then took a moment to consider his words, "so...she's his daughter, huh?"

She quickly turned to him, mouth open, "how did you-?"

"Everyone in the mansion forgets I can hear through doors _and_ walls. Sometimes you hear things that you don't mean to. Can't _unhear_ them again. Just gotta live with what you learn and carry on like normal."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Wasn't my secret to tell," Logan remarked, "besides, when I overheard it, _he_ didn't even know yet. That's why I can cut him a break on this – and why I think you should too."

Rogue frowned down into her beer, "oh."

"I don't understand the hows myself, really," Logan said, "to be honest, I thought she might be even before I overheard that she was."

"How?" Rogue asked, "how could you think it? It's not obvious."

"Not to you, maybe, not even maybe to the others," Logan explained, "the natural instinct he had for her without knowing who she was to him...their powers being similar...and they both have this...particular scent."

"You told me that the scent of people is determined by what products they use...Shampoos, conditioners, soaps...perfumes, deodorants, the coffees and foods they consume..." Rogue reminded.

"Yeah, but under all that, we all have our own natural scent; skin cells, sweat glands, they all secrete scents before you've even masked it up with all the unnatural scents of products."

"So Jessie and Remy _smell_ alike to you?"

"Kind of."

"What is it like?"

"Hard to describe. Maybe a mix between clove and the smell of damp earth after the rain – not altogether unpleasant. Very faint though – and was nearly hard to pick up because Gambit's scent is masked up by the smell of cigarettes and alcohol usually..."

"Is it usual for people to smell alike?"

"Can be pretty common – at least to me. But this scent was so unique...took me a while to figure they both smelled alike – by the time I was figuring it out, I overheard the news and suddenly it made sense."

"What...do you think about it...about her being his daughter?" Rogue asked softly.

"Not sure what to think really. He's...handling it well, kind of."

"Kind of?" she asked.

He hesitated, as if he had something else to say, but then at the last moment had changed his mind. "Well, he's got all those mental problems. I guess he probably could have done _without_ learning what he did. Same time though...it might be the best thing that ever happened to him 'cause it's given him a solid reason to get his shit in order."

Rogue nodded.

"Poor Jessie, though."

"What do you mean?"

Logan gave a deep sigh, he shook his head. "Kid can never know...too many questions..." he shrugged. "Hank and Kitty discussed it a lot...there isn't a way to tell a seven year old her father wasn't really her father...and imagine finding out your father is Gambit...how messed up would that make _any_ kid? Alcoholic chain-smoking Thief with mental problems? She's already messed up enough...this would tear the poor kid apart."

"You're probably right," Rogue remarked.

"And how do you feel about bein' a stepmother?" Logan chuckled.

"Stepmother?" Rogue asked all too quickly, her face flushed and she wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or just the shock of hearing the word.

"Well...you and Gambit are fixin' to marry at some point, so I hear...technically that'd make you a stepmother."

"I don't think stepmother is really fitting – and I don't think I really want to be a mother to anyone..." Rogue took a drink from the beer, then shook her head. "I'm not the maternal type."

"You're good with kids..."

"I kick their asses in the Danger Room and train them, Logan, but I'm not good at being motherly."

"You think being motherly is just about kissing boo-boos, and patting kids on the head? Telling stories at bedtime and bringing cups of cocoa? Get real, Rogue...part of being a parent is about discipline," said Logan, "Jessie needs someone to be the disciplinarian...she doesn't take what we're saying as seriously as she should."

"She's had enough discipline in her life, Logan. She lived in an orphanage...it's _all_ she knew."

"Yeah, but livin' in the mansion is _spoiling_ her. She gets away with everything she does regardless of being told not to...I heard about the incident with the elevator...and then running away and hiding in your bag. Professor isn't doing a good enough job of keeping her in line – and Jean isn't either, and Kitty is too busy with the baby. Jessie needs put in her place or she's going to seriously get hurt – this would be a good chance for you help put her right."

"It's not like she's a badly behaved kid," Rogue admitted. "She's just..."

"Headstrong – like the women she lives with," Logan chortled. "Brave, determined, powerful, and smart. She takes after all of you."

"She takes after Remy...so, so, so much," Rogue admitted. "And it's so stupid I never even noticed before."

"There was never any reason for it to occur to you," Logan took a sip from his bottle after a quiet yet thoughtful grunt..

"I...think when Remy gets back, I should just...step back from everything and let him be with Jessie."

"Wait...are you talking about breaking up with the guy?"

"I..."

"Here we go again with the on-again-off-again," Logan rolled his eyes.

"No..." Rogue sighed, "it's just...I don't want to get between them...especially now. Before I found out about who she really is to him, I felt a little annoyed his time was always split between me and Jessie so much...but now that I know...I can't help feeling that all of his time should be dedicated to him. She's his _blood_...and I'm just the woman he dates."

"The woman he loves. Besides...he never gave any indication he was struggling to split his time between either of you..." Logan noted. "What's the real reason behind your wanting to back out suddenly?"

"It's just I don't want to come between them."

"Bull...what's the REAL reason?"

Rogue hesitated, then quietly said, "maybe...I don't know _how_ to be part of a family..."


	5. Chapter 5: Snap

Chapter Five - Snap

Jessie couldn't sleep; no matter how much she tried, no matter how much she adjusted her pillow, she couldn't get comfortable enough to drift off into a sleep. The rain outside was heavy...tapping at her window madly like someone trying to get in. Her mind wasn't anywhere sleepy enough to ignore it, so instead, she sat up and switched on the light, then turned on her radio alarm clock hoping the music would at least block out some of the sounds of the rain.

The only station she could find on the radio that wasn't static was a jazz station, the song playing sounded vaguely familiar and it took a moment for her to realise it was the song that Mr. LeBeau had sang to her that night he'd lay in the bed with her.

_I wish someone would tell me how he really is..._ Jessie thought as she got up and stood on her toy chest to look out of the high-up rectangular windows. She couldn't see much. She sighed and hopped back down again; she wondered if anyone downstairs was awake.

She pulled on her robe and stepped into her pink furry slippers and she quietly crept out of the bedroom and down the hall. She tiptoed down the stairs, the foyer was dimly lit and the sound of the grandfather clock against the west wall chimed twelve times. It was midnight.

Just as she had almost gotten to the very bottom step the front door opened, and in stepped Rogue, her hair soaked until it was flat and dark, her clothes wringing wet, her makeup smudged.

"Jessie..." Rogue said softly.

Jessie chewed her lip and held on to the banister, "I can't sleep...the rain is too loud..."

Rogue slipped off her sweater, beneath it her pink tanktop had soaked through too. "Yeah...it's really comin' down out there..." she admitted. She held onto the sweater and gestured for Jessie to go back up. "C'mon...Professor Xavier would pitch a fit if he saw you wandering around the house at midnight..."

Jessie sighed and followed Rogue up; she could smell the unpleasant bitter yet somehow sweet smell of alcohol coming from Rogue but she was too polite to ask if the woman had been drinking.

"Get to your room, now," Rogue ordered as they reached the top of the stairs.

"It's cold in my room," Jessie sighed.

Rogue stood looking at her, "it's cold all over the mansion – the heating keeps breaking down..."

Jessie thought it pretty silly that the heating in the mansion was constantly broken lately when there was so much technology in the mansion that was far more advance and better maintained. She thought Dr. McCoy should perhaps take time away from his hanging out in his lab or fiddling with his machines down in the Sub-basement and perhaps start working on fixing the heating.

Jessie followed Rogue to Rogue's room door and stood behind her, "can't I stay with you?"

Rogue raised an eyebrow as she looked down at her, "why?"

Not really having a sufficient answer for the woman, Jessie simply shrugged and followed Rogue into the bedroom. She watched Rogue toss the sweater into a laundry basket by the bathroom door and then grab some pyjamas from the dresser before darting into the bathroom.

"You really need to get to bed and get some sleep, you have school tomorrow," Rogue called out fro the bathroom while she was getting changed.

"But I can't sleep; I'm not even tired," Jessie confessed as she wandered around Rogue's bedroom, examining all the lovely things she owned. It was the first time she'd ever been in Rogue's room, and it was almost as nice as Miss Pryde's room. The walls were yellow, warm and inviting, and the sheets were white satin. Jessie climbed onto the bed, marvelling how slippery the sheets felt beneath her.

"I know how you feel," said Rogue from the bathroom after a moment.

Jessie picked up the photograph from the bedside cabinet; it was of Remy, a more recent photo that had been taken before Christmas judging by the background, which was the Christmas tree that had been in the Foyer.

Rogue stepped into the bedroom, towel-drying her long brown and white hair; her face was now clean of makeup and she looked so much younger suddenly without it. She sighed and sat on the bed beside Jessie, she glanced at the photo.

"Do you think Mr. LeBeau is handsome?" Jessie asked curiously, noting the almost adoring way that Rogue stared at the photograph.

Giving a laugh, Rogue nodded, "always have."

Jessie put the photograph back, "how did you meet him?"

Rogue took a moment to think about this, "it...was a very long time ago. I was fifteen...we were...enemies."

Jessie's straightened up, intrigued. "Enemies?"

"We didn't get along..."

"I've heard you sometimes fight a lot," Jessie admitted.

Rogue frowned, "where did you hear that?"

"The older kids talk sometimes and say it...they say a lot of stupid things," Jessie confessed.

Rogue tossed the towel from her hair into the laundry basket and got up to retrieve some socks from the dresser. "What else do they say?"

"That he's a thief..." Jessie replied softly.

Standing there, holding her thick bedsocks, Rogue seemed to consider this, then she smiled faintly, "that's...true."

"It is?" Jessie asked in wonderment. "Really?"

"He stole my heart," Rogue said shaking her head almost bemused. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the socks on.

Jessie climbed behind Rogue on the bed, and took Rogue's damp hair in her hands and played with it. "When are you going to marry him?" she asked.

Rogue paused, "I don't know. I don't know if we ever will get married...sometimes things change before they can happen..."

Jessie made a grab for the hairbrush that was sitting on the bedside cabinet at the other side of the bed, she gently dragged it through Rogue's hair. "You could wear a long white dress and a princess crown," she offered.

Chuckling, Rogue reached back to hand Jessie a scrunchie, "I'm not exactly a princess, though..."

Jessie awkwardly made a loose ponytail with the scrunchie, and smiled in satisfaction with it. "You don't have to be to dress up like one," she said, "I do it all the time."

"You're seven. You're allowed," Rogue said with a soft sigh, she lay down on the bed over the covers and looked up at Jessie.

Jessie felt as if Rogue might be taking in every detail of her face and comparing it to something. And the mind of the woman seemed to be so distant, and so far away. Jessie lay beside her, staring into her face too. Without makeup, without elaborate hairstyles, without well-made fashionable clothes and sparkling jewellery, Rogue was still stunning. It was easy to see why Mr. LeBeau adored her so much; it wasn't just the beauty though, it was something else, something that went a lot deeper.

She reached over to brush a damp curl from Rogue's forehead in a tender way, and Rogue gasped and caught the little girl's wrist just as the fingers had been an inch away from touching her.

"No...you mustn't do that!" Rogue warned.

"But you can't-" Jessie tried again and Rogue stopped her. It was the horrible definite snap that made them both gasp, and then Jessie's howl as pain shot through her arm that broke the silence of the mansion.


	6. Chapter 6: Can't Do This

Chapter Six – Can't Do This

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

Jessie's tears spilled like tiny waterfalls from each eye and the girl grabbed her arm and held it up in the air, wailing in agony.

_Fuck! I knew this was going to happen! I knew it!_ Rogue stressed as she got up from the bed and stared at the little girl blankly. Despite knowing what she was meant to be doing – which was calling for help – she stood there in distress frozen to the spot as she realised she had broken Jessie's arm accidentally with her strength.

Jessie's cries were agony, although perhaps not as dramatic as Rogue might have expected, it was the horror of knowing she had caused the little girl the pain that left her so frightened and glued to where she stood.

Finally, the bedroom door opened, and Kitty rushed in; the sound of baby Caleb screaming across the hall drifted into the bedroom.

"What's going on?" Kitty demanded, her hair frizzy and her eyes puffy; she tripped non the long front of her fluffy blue robe.

Rogue stood unable to speak for several moments as Kitty rushed to the side of the bed to examine Jessie's arm which the little girl was cradling and refusing to let Kitty see.

"It was an accident..." Rogue finally managed.

"What happened?" Kitty asked, she tried to quiet down Jessie.

"She tried to touch me...I had to stop her...I..."

Jean was soon rushing into the bedroom, her long hair untied and flapping around her cheeks as she rushed over to help Kitty. "Let me see..."

Kitty moved aside so Jean could examine the arm.

"It's broken..." Jean glanced across to Rogue, "what did you do?"

"I stopped her from touchin' me...I grabbed her arm...I didn't...I didn't think it'd hurt her...I was just tryin' to stop her from bein' hurt..." Rogue's eyes teared up so badly it was hard for her to see.

"It hurts!" Jessie howled, gripping onto her arm, her long lashes spiky from tears.

"We need to get her to a hospital," Jean reasoned.

"Does she _have _ to go to a hospital?" Kitty asked.

"I don't want to go to the hospital!" Jessie sobbed, her face wet, her eyes red, her lips quivering. The lights in the room flickered in response to her pain, the hum of electricity hard in the air.

"I'm afraid so; she needs an x-ray and a cast and we don't have the facilities for that..."

The bulb in the nearby lamp exploded. "No!" Jessie screamed.

"Sorry, honey, you have no choice..." Jean picked her up, gently, "let's go..."

Jean left with the child in her arms, the sobbing growing more and more distant, although Caleb's crying was still loud from the room across the hall.

Kitty glanced across at Rogue, her expression unreadable.

"I didn't mean to do it..." Rogue stammered, perhaps it was just the cold in the room or perhaps it was the horror of what she'd accidentally done, but she felt absolutely frozen, as if she'd been bathing in ice water.

"You can't help being strong, Rogue..." Kitty said, she walked over, then stopped, she sniffed the air, "have you been...drinking?"

"I had three beers..." Rogue said, "I'm not _drunk_."

"Why was she in here? You know we're not meant to have any interaction with the kids under the influence..."

"I've had three beers in four hours...it's hardly under the influence..." Rogue gaped at Kitty. She sat on the edge of the bed, she felt oddly sick to her stomach. Was Kitty going to report her to the Professor? Had Jean noticed? Would she report her? Or would the Professor already somehow know? Her mind was reeling with the worries of what could happen.

"Why was she in here?"

"She couldn't sleep – she followed me in...I just got home..." Rogue explained.

"It's not that I _don't_ trust you, Rogue..." Kitty winced, "But...you know how this is going to look...you know the rules about drinking and being with the students, regardless if you're drunk or not...the Professor is going to go nuts..."

"I don't care about the Professor," Rogue put her head in her hands, "it's Remy...what's _he_ gonna think when I tell him? He's gonna lose it...he'll think I did it deliberately...but it was just an accident! I swear I didn't think I was going to hurt her..."

"Remy knows you'd never hurt a kid," Kitty scoffed.

"This isn't just any kid, Kitty, it's his _daughter_! He's gonna go ballistic, Kitty...he'll never forgive me for this!"

"Don't be stupid. Remy knows you don't know your strength sometimes – he knows you would never hurt her deliberately..."

Rogue stood up and paced, "Y'know, this is _exactly_ what I was afraid was going to happen. I knew if she spent time with me she was going to get hurt. Remy always talked about how I don't know my own strength. _This _is why I didn't want to spend time with her...I knew this was bound to happen..."

"It's just a freakish accident. She could have been hurt as easily while practising with her powers...or playing in the foyer...it could have just as easily been Hank or Logan who hurt her!"

"But it was with _me!_ Right now it's her arm...what if it had been her back or her neck...I could have paralysed her...or killed her...I can't risk this...I just...I can't be with her...I can't do this..."

Kitty stared at her, "Rogue, think about what you're saying..."

"I know what I'm saying, Kitty...I have to step back. I'm a liability..."

The End...or is it? (Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun).

Okay, so it's been a while, I have all these written and I keep meaning to get around to putting them up and I get distracted with real life stuff – I just moved house so I'm trying to catch up on my "things to do list". As per usual, if you like the story or have any thoughts, give it a review, I love reading everyone's thoughts and guesses! Expect Episode 19 to come soon ;)


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